Miles Morales’ closest ally just turned her back on the villainous legacy she could have inherited for the very last time.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #26 finds the titular hero locked in brutal combat with the murderous Adrian Toomes, aka the Vulture. Unsurprisingly, this has brought the attention of Tiana Toomes, better known as Starling, who is both the Vulture’s granddaughter and Miles’ girlfriend. Even less shocking is the fact that Tiana is so willing to separate herself from her grandfather’s villainous legacy, so much so that she officially severs whatever ties she last left to the longtime foe of any and every Spider-Man to ever grace New York City.

• Written by CODY ZIGLAR
• Art by FEDERICO VICENTINI
• Colors by BRYAN VALENZA
• Letters by VC’s CORY PETIT
• Design by JAY BOWEN
• Main cover art by FEDRICO VICENTINI & NEERAJ MENON
• Variant cover art by AMANDA CONNER & PAUL MOUNTS

Adrian Toomes is one of the oldest Spider-Man villains in the entire Marvel Universe, with his first appearance coming in Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s opening story, “Duel to the Death with the Vulture!” from the pages of 1963’s Amazing Spider-Man #2. A genius inventor and caregiver to his paralyzed older brother, Toomes toiled away at an electromagnetic harness that allowed its wearer to take to the skies. Rather than selling off his invention, Toomes used it to take lethal revenge on the business partner who had been stealing from him, all before embarking upon a life of high-flying crime as the Vulture.

As the Vulture, Toomes became a prominent foe of Peter Parker’s Spider-Man, crossing paths with the Wall-Crawler on countless occasions. The Vulture also found a group of like-minded villains as a founding member of the original Sinister Six. Despite his old age and the many crushing defeats he has been dealt over the years, the Vulture has continued to play a role in major comic book storylines, even going so far as to align himself with the anti-mutant organization known as Orchis during their war against mutantkind.

Tiana Toomes made her comic book debut in the pages of 2019’s Miles Morales: Spider-Man #5 by Saladin Ahmed and Javier Garrón. After her father, Frankie Toomes, abandonded his wife and child, Tiana’s grandfather stepped up to make right what his son had failed to do for himself. Adrian even took in Tiana when her mother passed away, developing a profoundly loving relationship with his granddaughter along the way. Eventually, Adrian gifted Tiana a flying suit of her own based on his latest tech, giving rise to her alter-ego as Starling. Though she could have easily followed in her grandfather’s footsteps, Tiana instead embarked upon a career as a costumed vigilante, which soon led her to cross paths and fall in love with Miles Morales’ Spider-Man.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #26 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.

Source: Marvel Comics

Spider-Man

Since his first appearance in 1962, Spider-Man has almost always been Marvel Comics’ most popular character. Known for his sense of humor and bad luck as well as his selflessness and super-strength, Spider-Man has helmed countless titles over the years, Spider-Man’s most prominent comics include The Amazing Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man, and Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man.

Peter Parker was the original Spider-Man but the Spider-Verse has become an important part of the character’s lore in recent years. Multiversal and future Spider-Men include Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen, Miguel O’Hara and Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham. This provided the premise for the popular Spider-Verse film trilogy, which makes Miles its primary hero.

Spider-Man is also the basis of several live-action film franchises and numerous animated television series. He is one of the most recognizable characters in the world. While he’s changed a lot over the decades, Steve Ditko and Stan Lee gave the world an unforgettable hero when they created Spider-Man.